Clamp type garment hanger



United States Patent [72] Inventor John H. Batts Grand Rapids, Michigan[21] Appl. No. 771,234 [22] Filed Oct. 28, 1968 [45] Patented Nov. 3,1970 [73] Assignee John Thomas Batts Inc.

Zeeland, Michigan a corporation of Michigan [54] CLAMP TYPE GARMENTHANGER 1,102,545 7/1914 Prouty 9/1928 Wood 24/137 .s)ux

Primary Examiner-Jordan Franklin Assistant Examiner-George H. KrizmanichAttorney Price, Heneveld, Huizenga and Qooper ABSTRACT: A garment hangerof the clamping variety including a pair of bar members having facinggarment-engaging surfaces. The bars are forced toward one anotherresiliently by a U-shaped spring. The base of the spring passes throughsuitable apertures in the bars at the extremity of the garmentclampingsections thereof and the legs extend along the exterior surfaces of thebar in suitable grooves. The legs of the spring are formed so as tocontact the bars near their midpoints such that primary compressionforce is exerted centrallyof the bar rather than at the extremitiesthereof.

CLAMP TYPE GARMENT HANGER This invention relates to a garment hangerand, more particularly, to garment hangers of the clamping type. Thisinvention comprises, briefly, such a hanger having first and second barmembers with facing garment-engaging surfaces. A generally U-shapedresilient member having a base and two legs is affixed to the bars suchthat the legs lie in generally parallel relationship to the bars andtend to compress them together and, thus, resiliently force the garmentengaging surfaces toward one another.

Garment hangers of the clamping variety have been utilized for some timeto hang such articles as slacks, skirts and the like. The hangers,basically, function by clamping the garment between two surfaces andretaining the surfaces in compression by means of a spring, cam or thelike.

It is an object of this invention to provide a hanger of this generaltype embodying a novel structural design which lends itself to I easyand relatively inexpensive fabrication. The hanger which is the subjectof this invention, additionally, will compress evenly on the garmentpositioned therein and, thus, will not permit one side of it to fallaway from the hanger. Other advantages of the hanger which is thesubject of this invention include its relatively low profile whichpermits it to be suspended in spaces of limited clearance and,additionally, to be hung from the end on a display rack or the like aswell as from the center. p p

The objects and advantages of this invention will be readily apparent tothose skilled'in the art with reference to the following specificationand accompanying figures in which:

FIG. I is a side elevational view of the novel hanger;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along plane Il-ll of FIG. Iillustrating the hanger in its relaxed configuration;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along plane ll-ll of FIG. 1illustrating the hanger in itsexpanded position;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan view, partially in cross section, of amodified embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, side elevational view of the modifiedembodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 4.

Referring initiallyto FIGS. 1 through 3, the hanger which forms thesubject'of this invention comprises a pair of elongated bar members 11and 12. Bar member 11 has a clamping surface 21 and bar member 12 has aclamping surface 22 which surfaces are positioned adjacent one anotherduring assembly of the hanger. Clamping surfaces 21 and 22 may, ifdesirable, be grooved parallel to the length of the bar members in orderto increase the frictional properties of the hanger.

Bar member 11 is of greater length than bar member 12 to provide thesmoothly curved overhang 13.Bar member 12, similarly, has a curvedextremity 15. The curved portions 13 and 15 form a smoothly converging,generally V-shaped passageway into which the garment may be slid to camthe hanger into its garment-receiving position to be discussedhereinafter. The rear section 16 of the bars 11 and 12 (at the left asviewed in FIGSyI through 3) are flush.

Bar 11 has an elongated'groove 17 running lengthwise near the midpointthereof. Bar 12, similarly, has a groove 18 running a similar distanceand in a similar direction. Grooves 17 and 18, as shown best in FIGS. 2and 3, areon the opposed surfaces of the bars 11 and 12 i.e. the sidesopposite of the garment-clampingsurfaces 21 and 22. At the extremity ofthe garment-engaging section of the hanger aligned apertures 19 and 23are formed in bars 11 and 12 respectively'The apertures 19 and 23, asillustrated in FIG. 1, communicate from the base of the grooves 17 and18.

The bars 11 and 1-2 are retainedtogether in compression by means of agenerally U-shapedc'lamping spring 30. The spring 30 has a base orwebbing 31 which passes through the apertures 19 and 23. Elongated sidesor legs 32 extend in generally parallel fashion from base 31 asubstantial distance and then converge as indicated at 3,4 to form thebearing members 33. A conventional book 35 may "be utilized in theembodiment shown in FIGS. 1 through 3 to suspend the hanger and garmentpositioned therein from a rail or the like.

Referring now specifically to FIG. 2, it will be noted that the parallel'portions 32 of spring member 30 do not contact resiliently the bases ofgrooves 17 and 18. These portions 32, rather, are spaced from thebottoms of the groove and, thus, in and by themselves, exert nocompression force on the bar members 11 and 12. The compression force onthe bar members 11 and 12 is exerted, rather, by the bearing sections 33of the spring member 30. The compressive force on the two bar members,thus, is exerted near the center of their lengths, preferably to theright of center as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3, and there is little tendencyfor the garment to be clinched more tightly at one extremity of thehanger than at the other. This avoids, of course, the possiblity of thegarment being placed in the hanger in sucha fashion as to restrict thecompressive force to one end thereof, the other end of the garment beingpermitted to fall free.

The spacing between the parallel leg members 32 of spring 30 isdetermined, of course, by the length of base section 31. This basesection should be of sufficient length to permit the insertion of one ortwo pairs of slacks or the like into the hanger without the portions 32coming into contact with the base of grooves 17 and I8 and, thus,compressing the lefthand side of the hanger as viewed in FIGS. 1 through3 more tightly than the right-hand 'side thereof. Such pressing, ofcourse, tends to swing thebearing sections 33 out of contact with thebars and, thus, permits one side of the garment to fall free from thehanger. I

The bars 11 and 12 are retained together by the base 31 passing'throughapertures 19 and 23 therein. The spring is retained in position, ofcourse, by base 31 and theriding of bearing sections 33'thereof in thegrooves 17 and I8.lt will not be necessary in all circumstances, ofcourse, to run the grooves 17 and 18 the complete length of the spring30. Stability could be gained, for example, by merely providing a shortsection of grooves for the bearing sections 33 to seat into. In such acase, of course, the width of the bar members 11 and 12 would eitherhave to be reduced or the length of the base section 31 of spring 30increased.

The garment is placed in the hanger by merely placing one edge thereofinto the V-shaped camming groove formed by the curved surfaces 13and.15. The extra length at bar 11, of course, provides a bearingsurface for the thumb or the like to assist in initial spreading of thebars. Once the garment has entered between the compression surfaces 21and 22, it is merely slid toward the base 31 of spring 30. During suchsliding, the bars 11 and 12 separate as illustrated in FIG. 3, thecompression force of the spring 30 being transmitted to the bars only atthe centrally located areas which the bearing sections 33 contact. Thegarment may be removed from the hanger by merely grasping it and pullingit sideways out of the opening formed by the curved surfaces 13 and 15.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a somewhat modified embodiment of-the inventionsuitable for utilization in a hanging and display structure such as thatdisclosed in US. Pat. application Ser. No. 681,207 filed Nov. 8, I967.In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 the hook 35 is omitted and theextremities of the bars 11 and 12 lengthened to provide a hangingstructure 50 including a head 51 with a depending vertical web 52 forsupport and reinforcement. By incorporating such a structure into thehanger, it may be suspended from the end in a clothing store or the likeon suitable vertical display racks such as shown in the noted copendingapplication. The web 52 may, as shown, be formed into sections, one oneach of the bars 11 and 12. The head 51, alternatively, could be formedas i an integral part of one bar member only, the remaining bar beingsecured to the assembly by the spring 30 as is the case in FIGS. 1through 3.

The hanger shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is identical to that shown in FIGS. 1through 3 with the exceptions that (I) the head 50 has been added to thehanger extremity and (2) the hook 35 has been omitted. Garments areinserted into the hanger in precisely the same'manner as that describedpreviously in connection with the embodiment shown in the other FIGS. ofthe application.

The bar members 11 and 12 in either embodiment of this invention may befabricated from wood, plastic or any other suitable material. The springmember 30, ordinarily. .will be fabricated of metal although some typesof resilient plastic may prove suitable depending upon the environment,hanging load and the like in and which the hangers are to be utilized.

While a preferred embodiment of this invention has been illustrated indetail along with the minor modifications thereof, it will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art that other embodiments may beconceived and fabricated without departing from the teachings of thisspecification and the accompanying drawings. Such other embodiments areto be deemed as included within the scope of the following claims unlessthese claims, by their language, expressly state otherwise.

I claim:

1. A clamp type trouser hanger particularly adapted for clampinglyengaging a pair of trousers or the like at the lower leg portionsthereof, said hanger comprising first and second elongated bar membershaving inner-facing trouser-engaging surfaces and outer opposedsurfaces, said bar members extending horizontally when said hanger issuspended from a support, said bar members and the inner engagingsurfaces thereof having a length adapted to exceed the width of thetrousers or the like tobe clampingly engaged; a generally U- shaped,elongated resilient member having a base and two legs affixed to saidbars with said legs lying in generally spaced parallel relationship tothe bars along the opposed outer surfaces thereof, the end portions ofsaid legs remote from said base converging toward one another andterminating in horizontal bearing sections compressingly contacting saidopposed outer surfaces at areas only between the central and endportions of said bars, whereby said bars may be forced apart withoutbeing subjected to compressive contact from those portions of said legsadjacent said base; grooves formed in the outer surfaces of said barmembers within which said legs are positioned; and, means affixed tosaid bar members for suspending said hanger from a support with saidengaging surfaces oriented generally vertical. 7

2. The hanger as set forth in claim 1 wherein said base passes throughsaid bars at a point therealong near one end of the garment-engagingsection thereof.

3. The hanger as set forth in claim 1 wherein said bars includeapertures formed therein at the bases of said grooves with the base ofsaid resilient member extending therethrough, said grooves extendingalong said bar members the entire length of said legs.

4. The hanger as set forth in claim 1 wherein one of said bars extendsbeyond the other of said bars at that extremity of said bar remote fromsaid base.

5. The hanger as set forth in claim 4 wherein said bars curve inwardlytoward said garment-engaging surfaces of said bar members at thatextremity of said bar remote from said base.

6. The hanger as set forth in claim 1 wherein said suspending meanscomprises means affixed to one extremity of said bar members forsuspendingthem in cantilever fashion from a suitable support.

7. The hanger as set forth in claim 1 wherein said suspending meanscomprises a suspending hook affixed to one of said bar members near thecenter of said hanger.

